ALBANA LILAJ
DOI:
Abstract
This paper examines how migration literature reconfigures identity, belonging, and subjectivity through a critical reading of the novel My Cat Yugoslavia (My Cat Jugoslavia) by Pajtim Statovci. It approaches migration not as a linear process of integration, but as an ongoing condition marked by fragmentation and continuous identity negotiation. The analysis demonstrates that the novel portrays migration as an experience of rupture transmitted across generations, in which trauma and memory intersect in theformation of subjectivity. At the same time, the text foregrounds cultural tensions and the untranslatability of certain concepts, thereby revealing the limits of translation and inclusion within a new context. The protagonist’s experience is further complicated by the intersection of migration and sexual identity, exposing multiple forms of exclusion and othering. In conclusion, the paper argues that the novel does not offer a stable narrative of belonging; rather it presents migration as an open, unstable, and unresolved condition in which identity remains in a constant process of becoming.
Keywords: migration literature, identity, trauma, intergenerational memory, untranslatability, belonging, otherness, queer identity